Kinsey Essay

Alfred Kinsey

In the early twentieth century a time a time where sex was an unspeakable subject, when adolescents were taught that masturbation was not only a sin ,but could cause blindness or hairy palms, along came Alfred Kinsey, who first started as a biologist studying gall wasps, and suddenly turned his interest from insects to people, disturbed by the lack of scientific knowledge concerning human sexuality he released a series of books called sexual behavior in the human male, next to human behavior of the human female based on the interview of thousands of people. These books purported to show that the average person engaged in all manners of sexual behavior such as homosexuality, adultery, masturbation and pornography at rates no one will guess. His studies are now considered immensurable, but are Kinsey’s findings a true liberator of truth or just a perversion that incites immoral behaviors?

Kinsey’s interests in sexual behavior were mainly caused by the restrictions imposed at home by his father who was an extremist conservative. He imposed strict rules on the household including outlawing social relationships with girls, prohibited knowledge of anything remotely sexual that eventually lead Kinsey a bigger interest in the subject. By the time he got married he found himself ignorant of any sexual practice and he began his research. He started with a marital course and then he travelled throughout the country to interview people about their sexual life. He’s studies were not only based on the interviews of other’s sexual experiences, he puts himself into the test too and kept record of all of his sexual experiences.

He claimed that humans are sexual from birth. Discussing that masturbation was a very popular practice. Approximately 87 per cent of men have had at least one homosexual experience, and of those a third would choose exclusive homosexuality, a third would remain in the middle, and another third would move onto heterosexuality.